The Long Beach Pony League All Stars had 14 players on their roster, all 14-year-olds with precocious baseball skills that would become evident during their flawless five-week, 15-game romp to a world title.

They survived the West Zone Championship Tournament in Fullerton with their top pitcher, Chase DeJong, unavailable because he had a commitment to fulfill in Florida with a traveling team and with their second-best pitcher, Soloman Williams, ailing with the flu.

They spent 10 days at the Pony League World Series in Washington, Pa., where they had a lot of fun during their spare moments participating in pizza-eating contests, playing Wiffle ball with their rivals from Taiwan, attending a Pirates-Reds game in nearby Pittsburgh and, of course, engaging in Xbox video games.

They also, of course, took care of business, rolling to four victories, including the 3-2 one last Saturday over Chinese-Taipei for the Pony League world championship.

It came in the most dramatic manner possible as Oliver Van Buskirk emulated Kirk Gibson sans the bum leg with a pinch-hit, two-run walkoff homer that resulted in the mother of all dogpiles, as the Long Beach players swarmed on the field after Van Buskirk touched home plate and formed a human pyramid.

“Just an amazing finish to an amazing season from a bunch of amazing guys,” says the team’s energetic manager, Ken Jakemer, whose players will be at Legends today to watch a TV replay of their stirring title triumph that will be shown at 11 a.m. on Fox Sports West.

Ken Jakemer himself is pretty amazing, since he’s a 48-year-old married father of three sons, Steve, 22, Spencer, 20, and Nick, 18, who’s in the software profession and who somehow still finds the time to be the webmaster for the East Long Beach Pony League, the Long Beach Pony League, the Lakewood Village Little League, the Wilson High football and aquatic teams and the Poly High and Lakewood High baseball teams.

And he also has been the heart, soul and driving force behind the Long Beach Pony leagues for the past 15 years, even according to its current commissioner, Steve Hyde, its savior.

“Ken’s insightful passion has meant so much to youth baseball in Long Beach on so many levels,” says Hyde. “There is no one more responsible for its current health than Ken.”

A Lakewood resident, Ken Jakemer is a tall, bespectacled fellow with a thick crop of brown hair who evinces an aura of infectious enthusiasm.

He was a coach on the 2007 Long Beach Pony League All Stars who were beaten 8-3 by Puerto Rico in the championship match, but traded positions this summer with Rick Romo, who remained on the team as a coach along with Victor Merrill.

He is a players manager, meaning he doesn’t berate any of his troops when they commit mistakes and continually emphasizes to them the importance of savoring the experience and having fun.

“I was a little different when I first started off,” he says.

“I remember once way back when I was yelling at the players and my mother said, ‘You’re sounding just like your dad.’ My dad was from the old school, and could get pretty vocal. Well, I changed. And it’s worked.”

It is his mother, Judy Jakemer, that got her son interested in baseball, since he didn’t play it at Aviation High in Manhattan Beach, where he instead was a water polo player good enough to also play it at El Camino College.

Judy Jakemer was once quite a softball player-she played it on some local semi-pro teams-and even coached the sport at Aviation.

“I grew up in a household in which baseball was a strong part of it,” he says.

Ken Jakemer knew he was entering the Pony League playoffs with a talented team-he thinks at least six of the players have the potential to one day be performing at the major league level-but one of its vital cogs, the hard-throwing 6-3 DeJong, would be absent for the West Zone championships that are a prelude to the Pony League World Series.

“Chase DeJong also had been playing for a traveling team, as do many of the kids, and couldn’t get out of playing in Florida,” relates Jakemer. “And in the second game of the West Zone Tournament against a tough Tucson team, Soloman Williams, our second-best pitcher, had to come out in the second inning because of sickness. We brought in Ty Provencher, and he did the job and we won 4-3.

“And in the next game against Tucson we had to use our center fielder, Brett Harper, to pitch and he came through for us and we won. And then we beat Victoria 10-7 to qualify for the Pony League World Series.”

At the small hamlet of Washington, where they played their games at Lew Hayes Stadium and where the town folk greeted the players with great warmth and affection according to Jakemar, the Long Beach Pony League All Stars would beat a team from Florida, Tamiami, twice (5-1 and 9-7) and one from Maryland, Hagerstown (10-4) before facing Chinese-Taipei.

Ironically, throughout their stay in Washington at the Days Inn where most of the Pony League teams were headquarted, the Long Beach players bonded with those from Taiwan, as the team’s shortstop, Thomas Walker, even learned a few words of Chinese.

They played Wiffle ball together and exchanged apparel in what was poignant show of friendship and goodwill.

“There might have been a language barrier, but that didn’t keep the kids from getting along terrifically and playing together, including in video games,” says Jakemer. “One of the kids we became particularly close to was Hu Chih Wei, a very likable young man. He was the one who gave up the home run to Oliver Van Buskirk.

“He was pretty distraught after the game, but back at the hotel later he displayed a sense of humor about it. When he saw Oliver, he smiled and did a home run pantomime with his arms. It was funny and yet touching.”

The Long Beach Pony League All Stars soon eventually are expected to be honored in a Pine Ave. parade and, for sure, will be honored on Aug. 31 at Angel Stadium by the Angels before their match against the Texas Rangers.

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